Supervalu Agrees to $8.75M Grocery Antitrust Class Action Settlement

Plaintiffs in an antitrust action over wholesale groceries in Midwestern states have asked a federal judge for preliminary approval of a settlement with defendant Supervalu Inc.

The litigation joins several claims from multiple plaintiffs who allege Supervalu conspired with co-defendant C&S Wholesale Grocers Inc. to split up certain market regions in Midwestern states and charge higher-than-market prices for certain products.

Under terms of the Supervalu class action settlement, Supervalu will pay $8.75 million into an escrow fund within 30 days of the court’s preliminary approval of the settlement.

The parties do not yet have a plan to distribute settlement payments to Class Members, but plaintiffs’ counsel anticipates that settlement funds will be distributed on a pro rata basis after covering expenses like attorneys’ fees and costs of settlement administration. No part of the fund will revert to Supervalu.

Plaintiff D&G Inc., which does business as Gary’s Foods, started this Supervalu antitrust class action in December 2008. D&G alleged that Supervalu and C&S conspired to avoid competing for certain customers and territories, and they agreed to allow Supervalu to charge higher prices than would otherwise have been competitive.

D&G claims this collusion between Supervalu and C&S was unlawful anticompetitive behavior that violated the federal Sherman Antitrust Act.

As a result of the alleged anticompetitive behavior, Supervalu overcharged customers through the assessment of Activity Based Sell fees, or ABS fees, the plaintiffs claim. The alleged overcharging affected wholesale grocery customers in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.

In October 2009, D&G’s claims were transferred to a federal court in Minnesota so they could be consolidated with similar claims from several other plaintiffs into a single multidistrict litigation, or MDL.

In September 2016, plaintiffs won certification of the Champaign DC Non-Arbitration Class, one of five plaintiff Classes in this antitrust MDL. This Class covers customers who paid fees on wholesale groceries from Supervalu’s Champaign distribution center during the applicable Class period.

As certified by the court, the Champaign DC Non-Arbitration Class covers all customers who paid ABS fees on wholesale groceries in all four Supervalu ABS product categories – grocery, dairy, frozen, and general merchandise or health and beauty care – purchased from Supervalu’s Champaign distribution center between Dec. 31, 2004 and Sept. 13, 2008, who were not subject to an arbitration agreement with Supervalu during that period, and who are located in the relevant geographic market.

The current settlement is only between the Champaign DC Non-Arbitration Class and Supervalu. This Class is the only plaintiff asserting a claim against both Supervalu and C&S. The four other certified Classes are raising claims only against defendant C&S.

Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

Counsel for the settlement plaintiffs are Elizabeth R. Odette, W. Joseph Bruckner, Kristen G. Marttila and Kate M. Baxter-Kauf of Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP, Richard B. Drubel and Matthew J. Henken of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, and Daniel A. Kotchen and Daniel L. Low of Kotchen & Low LLP.

The Supervalu Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Wholesale Grocery Products Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 0:09-md-02090, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

UPDATE: November 2017, the Supervalu Wholesale Grocery Antitrust Class Action Settlement is now open. Click here to learn more.